


Hindsight

by Jane Elliot (JaneElliot)



Series: After the Void [5]
Category: StarCraft (Video Games)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Battlefield, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:53:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25943899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaneElliot/pseuds/Jane%20Elliot
Summary: Jim runs into some shadows.  Realizations are made.
Relationships: Sarah Kerrigan/Jim Raynor
Series: After the Void [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/417615
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Hindsight

Sarah teleported into a bloodbath. Most of the battlefield was covered in green Zerg blood, though the dark purple blood of the Protoss was liberally splashed over the mounds of organic matter that had once been living, breathing beings.

Noticeably absent was human blood, though there was a pile of Terran armor off in the distance calling Sarah like a beacon.

Another quick teleport and she stood next to a small mountain of shredded armor and body parts. She had to dig through a platoon of marines before she found what was left of Jim: little more than a scrap of brain and bone. "Really, Jim," Sarah muttered as she lifted the precious remains onto a waist high pile of human debris. "Was this absolutely necessary?"

The scrap of flesh and bone was silent. Sarah sighed and began pulling together the elements that went into building a human being. Fortunately, she was surrounded by an abundance of raw material and it didn't take long for her to build up Jim's body. She pulled him close and kissed him, activating his cells and neurons at the same time. He gasped into her mouth as freshly formed lungs took in their first breath of air and then he was kissing her back fiercely.

After several weeks apart, Sarah figured she deserved a treat and she let the kissing go on for a bit before giving in to the entirely unromantic stench of decaying corpses. Pulling back with a sigh, she rested her forehead against Jim's and returned them to reality. "What the hell happened here, Jim?"

"Exactly what you think happened." Jim stepped back. "We actually got lucky in a way."

Sarah eyed the slaughter around them pointedly.

Jim rolled his eyes. "We weren't even supposed to be here. I was on a science vessel, going to Brontes to see why they went dark when we picked up this battle between the Protoss and Zerg."

"That didn't take long," Sarah muttered.

"I'm surprised it took as long as it did," Jim said. "Protoss and Zerg have hated each other long before Terrans ever left Earth. Once Amon was finished, there wasn't any reason for them to keep playing nice. Still, we know a lot more about the Protoss and Zerg factions than we used to, so we decided to get a little closer to see if we could figure out exactly who was fighting. We were actually scanning the planet when the shadow creatures arrived."

Sarah stared at him. "You _did_ get lucky. What did you find out?"

"Not as much as I would've liked," Jim admitted. "But they're definitely made of Void energy. They're also like Amon's shadow forces, in that they take the shape of Terrans, Protoss, and Zerg. But there weren't any Void rifts."

"How did they appear?"

"They just came out of the ground. No warning, none of that weird purple mist -- just a bunch of shadows crawling out of the ground. Like burrowed Zerg, except that there was no sign of digging. Of course, that could be because they weren't actually corporeal when they were coming out of the ground. The only time they have a physical form is when they're attacking."

Sarah frowned, her mind catching on the phrase "physical form". For some reason, that sounded familiar. She couldn't put her finger on it at the moment, though, so she turned her attention back to the matter at hand. "Were you able to fight them at all?"

"I don't know that I'd call it fighting -- more like slowing down our deaths." Off Sarah's impatient look, Jim explained, "They did become tangible when attacking, but only at the moment of impact. So you couldn't shoot at one that was coming at you. You had to wait until it actually hit you."

Sarah's mind immediately started making connections. "Let me guess. You decided that, since you're immortal, the best thing for you to do was come down to the planet and let a bunch of shadows stab you so they'd be vulnerable."

"It wasn't just me," Jim offered. "A lot of zerglings played cannon fodder. And they had to be corporeal to attack Protoss shields, which helped a little."

"But not clearly not enough," Sarah said dryly.

"No, but..."

"But?"

"It could have been my imaginations -- I mean, I wasn't in great shape at the end --"

Sarah assumed that was a massive understatement.

"--but I definitely got the impression that they weren't getting reinforcements."

"Not like Amon's shadows, then." Void rifts produced an unlimited number of shadows -- the only way to stop the shadows from coming was to close the rift.

"Yeah. It reminded me of some of Swann's upgrades. Better units, but by the time you finished the upgrades, there weren't enough minerals left to build a full army."

_Upgrades. Physical form._ Sarah shook her head slightly, then closed her eyes, looking beyond her five senses. "There's definitely Void energy here," she said after a moment. "It's dissipating, but there's still enough to cover the surface of the planet." On a whim, she looked deeper, then swore, opening her eyes

"What?" Jim asked.

"I found the Void rift. It's in the planet's core."

"How's that possible? I didn't think anything was left in the Void."

"The Xel'Naga didn't have anything to do with the Void energy. That was already there." Sarah's mind raced. _Upgrades. Physical form. Void energy. Shadows. Xel'Naga._ "Oh, that son of a bitch."

"What?" Jim asked again, sounding impatient. "Who?"

"Think about it, Jim. Who do we know who is a mad scientist, capable of wielding Void energy, and resilient as a fucking cockroach?"

"Narud? But Stukov killed him."

"Narud certainly made it look like he'd been killed, but he's done that before, at least twice. Besides, he wasn't the son of a bitch I was thinking of."

Jim glared at her, clearly done with waiting for an answer.

"Tassadar."

" _Tassadar_? You're calling _Tassadar_ a son of a bitch? He died to make you a Xel-Naga!"

"He also fucked around with every race in the universe for _millennia_. Do you know how many of his damned 'prophecies' I've had to live through?"

Jim opened his mouth and closed it again, wincing. "So how, exactly, is Narud his fault?"

"Because, when he told us that only a Xel'Naga could defeat Amon, what he really meant was only a Xel'Naga could kill a Xel'Naga. If we'd known that four years ago, we could have gone back and made sure Narud was actually dead!"

Jim rubbed his hands over his face. "You don't mean..."

"Yes, Jim. We've got to go back to Ulnar."


End file.
